Nanotech policy Australia's top political parties are missing in action when it comes to nanotechnology regulation, claims a major environmental group.

The Friends of the Earth (FoE) have made the claim following a questionnaire of political parties ahead of this weekend's Federal Election.

"The past year has seen the Federal Government slash funding for the CSIRO and Safe Work Australia's research into the health and safety risks associated with nanomaterials. And Government progress towards regulating nano forms of existing chemicals has stalled," says Friends of the Earth spokesperson, Louise Sales.

"While a number of European countries including France, Belgium, Denmark and Norway are moving to implement mandatory registers of nanomaterials our Federal Government has refused to take similar action here."

Sales says a mandatory register is necessary because workers are often unaware they are dealing with nanomaterials and the government is not even sure how many of the chemicals are being introduced into the environment.

She says in its response to FoE's questionnaire the Australian Labor Party stated that "Federal Labor will continue to encourage public participation in decision making and consultations on government policy making processes".

"Quite how this will happen isn't clear - given that the government scrapped its community engagement program, Stakeholder Advisory Council and Expert Forums on new technologies this year," she says.

"Meanwhile, despite its past emphasis on building public trust in nanotechnology oversight, the Coalition failed to answer Friends of the Earth's Federal Election policy questionnaire," says Sales concluding both parties were "missing in action" on nanotechnology policy.

A response from the Liberal Party was sought by the ABC but not received in time for publication.

Sunscreens

While nano-ingredients are present in many products, their presence in sunscreens has perhaps been one of the most controversial applications.

"Whilst the EU and New Zealand move to regulate nano-ingredients in sunscreen, our sunscreen regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA] has opposed the labelling of nano-ingredients in sunscreen," says Sales.

The call for labelling is supported by consumer groups, unions, the Public Health Association of Australia and the sunscreen industry body ACCORD.

But when asked to comment a Labor spokesperson said the TGA had not identified a requirement for specific safety warnings regarding nanoparticles in sunscreens, but that CSIRO was undertaking further work to understand the potential risks.

"We support ongoing work by Safe Work Australia regarding information about nanomaterials," Labor said in its questionnaire response, adding it had provided funding for the National Measurement Institute to establish nanotechnology measurement standards for regulators and industry.

Labor also says there is ongoing work by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) on industrial nano-materials regulation.

But Sales says there has been a significant scaling back of safety research funding since the end of the National Enabling Technology Strategy earlier this year.

"We're not only concerned that this risk research has been wrapped up but it's also their public consultation and their stakeholder advisory council and their expert forums on new technologies have also been wrapped up and there's been nothing to replace them," she says.

'Off the agenda'

Nanotechnology expert Professor Thomas Faunce, ARC Future Fellow at the Australian National University agrees nanotechnology regulation in Australia has "slipped off the agenda" in the main due to "industry push back".

"It's perceived, quite rightly, as a growth industry with potential jobs and investment, and they don't want to send the wrong signal into the markets," he says.

While Faunce says the Friends of the Earth for focussing on the risk of nanotechnology at the expense of its benefits, he agrees with many of their concerns.

"The big issue is still labelling," says Faunce, who has been involved with an OECD project on nanotechnology regulation. "You have to allow people to make informed choices about the products they use."

"I also think a register would be a good idea," he adds.

Potential benefits

Faunce says the technology has the potential to solve many public health and environmental problems, but that a "sound regulatory regime" based on solid data is a "precondition for a viable and sustainable nanotechnology industry".

He is also concerned about funding availability for safety research in Australia by agencies such as CSIRO and Safe Work Australia, and says he is not aware of any replacement for National Enabling Technology Strategy funding.

Faunce says safety research and the development of regulations is time-consuming and needs to focus on important applications, rather than the vast number of relatively trivial consumer products that are now available.

"It's ridiculous sending signals to the market to use this wonderful new technology to develop socks and shirts that don't smell or golf clubs that work better, when its morally appropriate use would be to address energy security and climate change issues," he says.